Leading Latino Evangelical Voices to Headline Major Convergence Event, Movement

Influential leaders from the Latin American evangelical community will descend upon Miami for the continental convergence meeting of Leadership Vision or LíderVisión this week. Renowned psalmists, evangelists and pastors popularly known among Hispanic Christians will gather for the three-day event beginning June 27.

Each year, Latino Christian leaders hold various conference events in an effort to network among each other but LíderVisión's agenda is considered the largest Spanish-speaking convergence movement in recent years.

"Primarily, it's the roster of top level leaders from around the world as guest speakers that makes this event different," Marcos Witt, a five-time Latin Grammy Award-winning Christian singer and former Lakewood Church pastor, told The Christian Post.

"This will provide an atmosphere of collaboration and brotherhood that is desperately needed among Latin American leaders and I'm excited about the networking that will take place as a result of coming together around this common cause," he added.

The event organized by Editorial Vida and Grupo Nelson, publishing entities under Harper Collins Christian Publishing, will be headlined by Lucas Leys (general director for LíderVisión), Marcos Witt, Alberto Montessi, Max Lucado, Luis Palau and more. There will be plenty of networking and sharing with over 40 exhibitors expected to speak, perform and interact with nearly 1,200 anticipated attendees.

One of the keynote speakers, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), is scheduled to open the event on day two with a dialog about the "The Lamb's Agenda". He calls the event "the gathering of gatherings featuring the leading Latino Evangelical voices in Christendom," and hopes his message will stir a revolution among leaders.

"The Lamb's Agenda serves as a prophetic antidote to a community besieged by moral relativism, cultural decadence and spiritual apathy. Simply stated, by reconciling Billy Graham's message of righteousness with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s march for justice, Latinos can lead the way in advancing a 21st century Christian movement," said Rodriguez.

In addition to Rodriguez' part, LíderVisión's program will feature seminars on topics relative to leadership action plans to guidelines for being a relevant church to balancing home and ministry responsibilities among more. According to David Coyotl with the marketing team at Editorial Vida, the event promises dynamic and innovative activities to create a collaborative environment.

"This is not a congress, a conference or an assembly," said Coyotl. "It's literally a convergence for pastors to be edified, to connect and to gain resources to supplement their ministerial work," he said.

Along with Coyotl's take on the event's purpose, Witt told CP that leaders can also expect personal growth.

"When we grow personally, the organizations we lead will also have the capacity and opportunity to grow. Additionally, attendees will make new lasting friends which will strengthen the cause of Christ around the world," said Witt.

"Jesus' prayer is still, 'Father I pray they be one as You are in Me and I am in You' hence, we need to work in unity," he added.

LíderVisión will also feature mesas abiertas, or open round table discussions for participants to engage in conversation and questions about practical topics within ministry today. Each discussion will be moderated by experts in the topic's field and will offer different perspectives on subjects about pastor's wives, youth ministry, worship, coaching, bible study and technology within the church.

"The purpose is for these experts to disperse their knowledge to those with similar interests and experiences which will facilitate open dynamic interaction among them," said Coyotl.

In addition to creating a dynamic gathering, the event's underlying purpose is to be the launch of even greater convergence meetings in the future.

"This is the second LíderVisión event with the first one taking place in 2011 at pastor Dante Gebel's church at the Crystal Cathedral in Los Angeles," said Coyotl. "Initially, it was coordinated with a local focus and now we're on a continental platform with a larger far-reaching projection in mind," he added.

Gathering influential Latino leaders hasn't been a small feat as Coytol says LíderVisión has been a collective work in progress over the past 15 years through established relationships with various movers and shakers.

"We're trying to consolidate a community based on leaders who encounter similar experiences but are separated by different Latin American countries," he added. "Our efforts go beyond our event this week, it's more than just that."